First Contact
by Macx
Summary: moviefic part of the Imperfection Deviation series. Sam asks some very important questions and Bumblebee tries to answer them as best as he can. Outbreak should be read first and you should know the Imperfection storyverse


TITLE: First Contact  
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation  
AUTHOR: Macx  
RATING: PG-13  
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money  
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):  
English is not my first language; it's German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...  
FEEDBACK: Loved

Blame this on the sneaky attack bunny that caught me right in the middle of watching the movie DVD. It was bad enough for me to stop the movie and actually write this. The ficlet was born out of a movie dicussion with my friend Sapphire over Bumblebee's rather unstealthy behavior when it came to 'sneaking away' from Sam that night to contact the others. 

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Sam Witwicky sat on the roof of the former supply building, a one storey affair that was three stories deep under ground. It was a warm day, but not hot, and he actually enjoyed being outside after spending the last three days cooped up and doing his homework, help Ratchet, and play around with his technopathy.

At his side was Bumblebee, never far from his charge and even closer to the technopathic mind than even Ratchet would ever suspect.

"So… it was your attempt to… what? Get me used to alien cars?" the young man asked.

Bumblebee shrugged. "Yes."

"It was a really bad one, Bee. I was freaked!"

It got him a smile. The blue optics lit up briefly and even though Bumblebee had no mouth like a human being, he could smile. Sam knew when he was.

"My mission, after I discovered Megatron's presence and your ancestor's involvement, was to pave the way for a first contact, Sam. We were aware that the Decepticons would follow my every move, would become aware of you, so it was vitally important to have you trust me."

"So you lured me to the scrap yard?"

Bumblebee nodded.

"You wanted me to see you."

"And you followed and saw."

Sam chewed on his lower lip. "Yeah. You weren't really all that quiet when you pulled out of the driveway."

"I didn't want to be. I needed you to come after me. And you did."

"Pretty stupid, now that I think about it." Sam scratched through his hair, ruffling it. "I mean, going after my car that had just been stolen… But you were my first car and I had had you for about twenty-four hours and some freak was stealing it and… I think it was a short-circuit reaction."

"I was rather surprised how quickly you went after me, too," the Camaro confessed.

"Yeah… well…" Another shrug.

"I never meant to get you into trouble with your law enforcement," Bumblebee apologized.

"That's okay. It wasn't bad trouble. Just… trouble. So when you came back, it was another move, right?"

"Yes."

"And chasing me on my Mom's bike?"

"You saw that there was no driver. I wanted you to get used to the concept."

"You scared me shitless, Bee."

The yellow Autobot leaned a little closer, still apologetic. "I never meant for you to come to harm. I couldn't just show myself to you. It was too soon."

"Barricade didn't think so."

Bumblebee winced a little. "I hadn't planned on that to happen."

"You didn't know he was following you?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "Not until it was too late. Sometimes I got a blip of him on my scanners, but like us, the Decepticons can use stealth and cloaking devices. When he approached you… I was scared for you, Sam. I hadn't noticed and I hadn't known and I hadn't had a plan. To confront him right away would have harmed you more instead of saving you. It might have gotten you killed."

Sam snorted. "I just freaked over the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. I saw a monster out to kill me."

"Barricade wouldn't have killed you."

Sam's eyes showed his disbelief. "Now, maybe. If he has a good day. But back then? I think he was about to filet me."

The Camaro shook his head. "No. He needed information and you had it. Without you, he wouldn't get the glasses. He needed to scare it out of you."

Bumblebee reached out and gently ran a finger over Sam's back.

"You came to harm and I was supposed to protect you."

"Hey, it were just bruises and scrapes," the young man tried to shrug it off. "And you beat him."

"It was close. He's a shock-trooper, Sam. They are tough."

"You still defeated him."

"I incapacitated him, thanks to the power station and a lot of luck."

"Sometimes luck is all it takes."

Bumblebee chuckled. "Yes. And I was lucky you survived."

"I'm good at running," Sam told him with a smile.

"It takes more than speed. You trusted me when we met. Why?" Bumblebee asked curiously.

"I don't know. It was… I mean, you could have hurt me before. You never did. And you defeated Barricade. You protected me and Mikaela. I thought it was okay to trust you, even if you brought me to meet a lot more of you big guys. I think if I could have, I would have been even more terrified after seeing Optimus and then Ironhide with his guns…"

Bumblebee's amusement was clear. "He likes to show off his canons."

"I know"

Somewhere in the distance was a cloud that was fast coming closer. Sam heard a soft click from Bumblebee and knew he was scanning the far away spec. He could almost feel it, could slide along the optical nerces and read the same transmission.

_He could see Jazz, as clear as if he was just a few feet away, racing across the desert, testing his wheels. He was chased by a black and white police cruiser, lights flashing blue and red. If he reached into the distance he might just feel them, feel their connection, the exhilaration he was sure was bouncing back and forth. He could feel Barricade's barriers break, could feel Jazz's response and he…_

… gasped a little, twitters of excitement racing through his body, up and down his spine. Bumblebee's touch was like a gentle caress of water on his skin and he quickly pulled his mind back, tightly into the confines of his own skull. Sam clenched his teeth and fought the temptation to uplink, to share, to be with the most fascinating and alluring life forms he had ever touched.

"Sam?"

"Gimme a sec…. ah, hell…" he breathed. "Shit, that was… intense."

"You slipped?"

"Yeah."

Sam rubbed over his eyes and looked at the dust cloud again. Jazz had veered away from the base, but not far away, and had transformed. It was a battle stance and Barricade reacted to it, both mechanoids soon locked in a friendly match.

Sam shivered.

Bumblebee was still there, offering, and he finally gave in and let his mind slip to touch the most familiar of them all.

Anchoring, Ratchet called it. He felt the soothing pulses of the other mind, of the spark, and he let it cool him down.

"They're intense," Sam muttered.

"Spark bonds always are."

"Have you… I mean, ever…?"

"No, Sam. They are as rare as they are universally accepted among our kind. Spark bonds were called a glitch in the early days. Two sparks that resonated with the other presence, were almost called faults. As if the Allspark had no separated them, left a connection. I think it's beautiful, like many of us do now. With the war, we scattered. When the Allspark was lost, Optimus sent his men out into ever corner of the universe. We came here. It's close to a miracle for Jazz to have found Barricade again."

"Yeah. They feel incredible, Bee."

Blue optics regarded him, a soft light in their depths. Bumblebee didn't say anything, just watched over his charge, and Sam ducked his head a little. Sometimes he felt like a voyeur. He had approached Jazz, apologized for the prior touches. He didn't want to breach anyone's privacy, didn't want to be rude, but his mind was eager to touch and he wasn't always in complete control.

Jazz had just told him he didn't mind as long as Sam didn't attempt to get deeper. Sam had been horrified, then had sworn never to do so against their will. He would never violate their trust.

"So do you," Bumblebee only said.

Sam blushed and evaded the blue optics. 

"Bumblebee? What would you have done if I hadn't followed you that night? What if I had just called the police?" he tried to change the topic.

The yellow mech regarded him curiously. "But you did follow."

"What if I hadn't? You didn't know me at all."

"I knew your ancestors. I researched them."

"It's not like knowing a person. So, what if I had stayed at home?"

"I would have tried a different plan. But you did follow me, Sam. My plan could have used some more detailed planning, true, but it worked. In the end, you were there."

"Still am." Sam smiled.

And he would stay. This was where he really belonged, where he felt at home. His parents had come to accept that their son's friends were all robotic life forms, were aliens, and Sam was grateful for that. He didn't know how he would have reacted had they forbidden contact. His twenty-first birthday was over a year away and he was technically still not a full grown-up. And he still lived at home and his father paid the rent for the student apartment in Mission City, as well as his education.

He'd have a job here when he graduated. He knew that. Secretary of Defense John Keller had already agreed upon Prime's proposal to employ Sam. He'd be permanently assigned to the Autobots.

Sam liked that. It's what he worked for.

Bumblebee held out his hand, palm up and Sam slid onto it. His guardian lowered him to the ground and they walked back to the base.

°° °° °° °° °°

Somewhere in the distance Jazz and Barricade played their games, transforming and mock-fighting, going back into their alternate modes and racing ahead of each other – unaware of Sam's slip-up. 


End file.
